Z I N 



ZINGIS, otherwife Jenghiz-kiian, or Genghiz-lhan, 

 in Biography, the founder of the Mogul empire, was the foa 

 of Bifukai, or Jefukai, a chief over thirteen hordes of Moguls 

 in the Tartarian range between China and the Cafpian fea, 

 and born about the year i i6l or 1 163, his firil name being 

 Temugin. In the year 1205 he was inftalled in the Mogul 

 empire, and declared his purpofe of giving a new code of 

 laws to the nation ; the objeft of which was the prefervation 

 of peace at home, and the conduA of war abroad. The pe- 

 nalty of death was denounced againlt murder, adulter)', 

 perjury, and the theft of a horfe or ox, which were the 

 chief articles of Tartarian property. The nation was mter- 

 diaed all fervile labour, the performance of which was 

 afligned to flaves and ftrangers, and was confecrated to the 

 fole profefGon of arms. The weapons which they were ap- 

 pointed to ufe were bows, fcymetars, and iron maces ; and 

 the troops were diftributed into divifions of hundreds, thou- 

 fands, and tens of thoufands. The foldiers and ofiicers were 

 made individually refponfible for the fafety and conduft of 

 one another ; and it was an ellablifhed rule, that peace (hould 

 never be granted without previous conqueft. With regard 

 to religion, Zingis ellablifhed univerfal toleration. As for 

 himfelf, his only article of faith was the exiftence of one 

 God, the creator and governor of all things ; but his Mo- 

 gul and Tartar fubjefts were idolaters, Jews, Chriftians, and 

 Mahometans, all of whom were allowed to praftife their 

 fevtral rites without moleftation, and without any difference 

 of privileges. Having thus fettled the affairs of the proper 

 Mogul empire, he fuccefGvely, by his own arms, and thofe 

 of his lieutenants, reduced the different tribes of the defert, 

 and rendered himfelf the undifputed monarch of the pafloral 

 nations who pitch their tents from the wall of China to the 

 Volga. For a flcetch of his conquefts, we refer to the article 

 of the MoGUl. Empire. Thefe conquefts were attended with 

 many afts of favage cruelty. In his invafion of Kitay, the 

 northern empire of China, he took 90 cities, deftroyed by 

 fire a number of towns and villages, and maffacred many 

 thoufands 9f people ; at the fame time obliging the Kin 

 emperor to purchafe peace at the price of a Chinefe prin- 

 cefs, 500 youths and maidens, 3000 horfes, and a large 

 tribute in gold and filk. At his departure, he inhumanly 

 ordered all the children whom he had taken in four pro- 

 vinces to be butchered. In a fecond expedition he laid 

 fiege to the capital city Yen-king, now called Pekin, 

 which, after a long refiftance and grievous fuffering by 

 famine, was flormed by the Moguls, with the conflagration 

 of the imperial palace ; and after the defolation of China, its 

 five northern provinces fubmitted to the dominion of the 

 Mogul conqueror. In the bloody conflifts between Zingis 

 and Mohammed, fultan of Kharifm or Charafm, all the rich 

 and populous cities and countries of Tranfoxiana, Kharifm, 

 and Khorafan, were taken or laid wafte by the Moguls. 

 Mohammed died a fugitive in a defert ifland of the Caf- 

 pian fea ; but his fon, Gelaleddin, boldly refilled the in- 

 vader, and checked his progrefs, till overpowered by numbers 

 on the banks of the Indus, he was under a neceffity of fpur- 

 ring his horfe into that rapid river, the oppofite fide of 

 which he reached in fafety. Zingis, admiring his heroifm, 

 and forbidding the purfuit of him, faid to his fons, " Any 

 fon might wifh to fpring from fuch a father." Neverthe- 

 lefs he ordered all the lultan's male children to be killed. 

 After the defeat of Gelaleddin, Zingis, remaining for fome 

 time in Khorafan, purfued his cuftomary operations of facri- 

 ficing lives, and defolating whole tradts of country. Re- 

 turning to Bokhara, or BuchaHa, in 1223, he inveftigated the 

 ;intiquitieB of Balk and the doftrines of Zoroafter, and held 

 conferences with the Mahometan dodors, the refult of which 



Z 1 N 



was his affent to their tenets, the neceflity of a pilgrimage 

 to Mecca excepted. In 1224 he,held a grand diet in the 

 plain of Tonkat, which, though feven leagues in kugth, 

 could fcarcely contain the tents of all the dillinguiflied per- 

 fons that were affembled. In the following year he pafl"ed 

 through Tarlary to the borders of northern China, and fub- 

 jugated the kingdom of Hya or Tangut. In the province 

 of Shen-fi, on the mountain of Lu-pan, whither he went in 

 order to pafs the fummer heats, he was taken ill ; and as he 

 perceived his end approaching, he fummoned the generals 

 of his army, before whom he declared his fourth fon regent, 

 till the arrival of his brother Oflai, whom he appointed his 

 fucccfTor in the dignity of grand khan of the Moguls and 

 Tartars. Recommending unanimity, and advifing the 

 conduft of the war againft Kin, he expired in Auguft 1 227, 

 at the age of 66 years. His remains were interred with 

 great pomp under a beautiful tree which he had fixed upon 

 in returning from a hunting expedition. He had many 

 wives, and left a numerous progeny. " This emperor," 

 fays one of his biographers, " pofTefled the civil and mili- 

 tary qualities neceffary for the founder of a mighty mo- 

 narchy, together with a penetrating and inquiring mind, 

 which, with fuperior culture, might have placed him in the 

 lift of truly great princes. His memory now furvives as that 

 of one of the great conquerors whofe deeds have aftonifhed 

 the world, to which they have proved the moft terrible of 

 fcourges. His fimple laws were long the rule of the coun- 

 tries he governed, and are ftill religioufly obferved by the 

 Crim Tartars." D'Herbelot. Gibbon's Hift. Univ. Hift. 

 Gen. Biog. 



ZINGST, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Baltic, near 

 the coaft of Pomerania, and a little to the wefl of the ifland 

 of Ufedom. N. lat. 54° 28'. E. long. 1 2° 50'. 



ZINIAR, a name given by the old chemical writers fsr 

 verdigrife. 



ZINIAT, a word ufed by the old chemical writers to 

 exprefs either the aftion of fermentation, or any thing that 

 is capable of exciting it in bodies. 

 ZINK. See Zinc. 



ZINKOW, in Geography, a town of Poland, in Podolia ; 

 32 miles N. of Kaminiec. 



ZINN, John Godfrey, in Biography, an anatomift and 

 botanift, was born in 1726, ftudied under Haller at Gottin- 

 gen, and became botanical profeffor in that univerfity. His 

 firft experiments were undertaken in order to afcertain the 

 feniibihty of different parts of the brain ; he then proceeded 

 to the examination of the eye, which produced his efteemed 

 work,intitled " DefcriptioAnatomica Oculi Humani, Iconi- 

 bus illuftrata," Gotting. 4to. 1755. Botany was alfo the 

 fubjeft of his affiduous iludy, the refult of which appeared 

 in feveral papers, and in a catalogue of the plants in the aca- 

 demical garden and vicinity of Gottingen, arranged accord- 

 ing to the fy ftem of Haller. His premature death happened 

 at the age of 32, in April 1758. He was a member of the 

 Academy of Sciences at Gottingen, the Inftitute of Bologna, 

 and the Royal Society of Berlin. Haller. Eloy. 



ZINNA, in Geography, a town of the duchy of Magde- 

 burg ; 1 8 miles N. of Wittenberg. 



ZINNIA, in Botany, vras fo (lamed by Linnasus, in 

 honour of Dr. John Godfrey Zinn, profeffor of phyfic and 

 botany at Gottingen, author of a Catalogus Plantarum Horti 

 Acadanici et Agri Gottingenfis, printed there in 1757. This 

 work, making an odlavo volume, is clafTed after Haller's 

 method. Its author has, befides, publifhed various botanical 

 and phyfiological treatifes, and would probably have con- 

 tributed much more to the advancement of fcience, had he 

 not been cut off, at the early age of 32, in 1758. Haller, 



whofe 



